Too Worried to Sleep, Got a Low Reading

4 hours post 2ui of Lantus Cookie's blood reading was 50. I fed her 1/3 can of Tiki Cat a few sprinkles of DM dry food to get it back up. I need to be in bed, but I am now too worried to sleep as Im afraid her bs will drop even more.

Started Cookie up on Lantus again this evening after a 3 day break from it after switching her diet from the DM to Tiki Cat Wet food (zero carb canned food). I was afraid of sending her into Hypo until I could successfully start getting blood samples from her.

Yesterday she read at 278 (no Lantus that day)

Today she read 295 before her last meal of the day (still no lantus), so I decided it was safe now to give her some. Here is today's dosing breakdown:

8:20pm - 295 blood glucose before feeding.
8:20pm - Fed(she did eat all of her food) and given 2ui of Lantus
10:25pm - Blood reading of 129. (whoohoo! Lowest it's been since her diagnosis)
12:25am - Blood reading of 50 (nooo!) She was however acting normal, no signs of hypo.

At this point I immediately fed her 1/3 can of tiki cat and a very small amount of DM dry food.
Im too worried to sleep now, its 1am and I have to wake up at 6am, but I want to be able to monitor her.

Based on your knowledge, will she dip any lower? How worried do I need to be? I'm not sure that I will dose her again before work today, not until this evening when I am home. Will certainly drop her down to 1ui for future runs. Thanks for any advice!

Just tested her again after another hour(Will update the reading chart above), blood reading was 53, so it's going back up. Gave her a bit more tiki cat and bit more DM dry so I can sleep without worry.

I would get another test in 30 minutes and if she's not a lot higher, I'd set an alarm if I had to and get another test 30 minutes after that.

The general rule around here is that when they drop to 50 or below, you feed a little high carb food (we prefer to use foods like Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers instead of dry) and test every 30 minutes for an hour and then test one more time 60 minutes later …..so that you're testing for at least 2 hours from the time you had to feed the high carb food.

If they drop again during that time and you have to feed HC again, you start the 2 hour "clock" over

I would get another test in 30 minutes and if she's not a lot higher, I'd set an alarm if I had to and get another test 30 minutes after that.

The general rule around here is that when they drop to 50 or below, you feed a little high carb food (we prefer to use foods like Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers instead of dry) and test every 30 minutes for an hour and then test one more time 60 minutes later …..so that you're testing for at least 2 hours from the time you had to feed the high carb food.

If they drop again during that time and you have to feed HC again, you start the 2 hour "clock" over

Yes, Ill be trying 1ui next time. I was so happy at the 129 reading, it was her first normal range reading. All I and vet had been seeing was 400's and 300's. Even though it dipped so low today, I'm happy that with the Tiki Cat switch, I know its only a matter of decreasing the Lantus now! Thanks for the welcome and advice!

I have been looking at the spreadsheet and trying to figure it out... I admit that part is still super intimidating for me. I plan to figure it out soon though, especially since it will help me chart my info and get help when/if needed. Thank you so much!

I have been looking at the spreadsheet and trying to figure it out... I admit that part is still super intimidating for me. I plan to figure it out soon though, especially since it will help me chart my info and get help when/if needed. Thank you so much!

Click to expand...

I found it hard to get my head around at first to, if you need any help with setting it up, don't be afraid to speak up, there are those here that can help you with that remotely.

Sigh, tried to test her again just now for the past 30 minutes..was not able to get a blood sample. Just when I starting to get smug about home testing her, I had another failure.

I pricked her 5 times, at that point she was very upset and her meow clearly said, "why are you torturing me???"

I got blood 2 of the 5 times but she flicked her ear before I could get it up to the test strip So I've given up for now, she was starting to get stressed despite the food bits she got as a reward between pricks. Im confident she will be okay, she's had a whole extra can now of food that I slowly gave her as reward throughout tonight, as well as several "bad" dry treats I have not donated/tossed yet. Ill be back up in 3 hours as well...going to try and get sleep now haha.

Thank you so much guys for stopping to give advice, knowing you were here helped me worry less. Goodnight for now

Really? Interesting...because they are more cranky/less patient, you think? Or it affects blood flow?

Click to expand...

I think being low can restrict blood flow for some cats. Any time it’s hard to get a good blood drop I say “uh oh” and then my meter confirms my suspicion. My cat is not bothered by getting her BG checked, so I know it’s not an impatience issue with her.

I think being low can restrict blood flow for some cats. Any time it’s hard to get a good blood drop I say “uh oh” and then my meter confirms my suspicion. My cat is not bothered by getting her BG checked, so I know it’s not an impatience issue with her.

Click to expand...

I see, hmm. Well I did get blood twice, she just ruined it by flicking her ear, argh! Reading that though, may go give her a bit more of the DM dry to tide her over until the her morning canned in a few hours. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Also interesting you say your cat was never bothered, am I pricking my cat wrong, perhaps? She certainly notices each time I prick her and she startles orwriggles to get away. I am only sticking the very outer rim of her ear. Was your cat always that unbothered from the start?

One thing you might try is to get a bit or blood on your fingernail, and dip the strip into that. I doesn't matter if you have to scrape it off the wall, or whatever, as long as you can get enough to activate the strip. Hang in there. We all found testing difficult at first. In case you haven't seen it, here are some tips that might help: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/.

I'm not sure why your vet started your cat on 2 units. Based on the formula for Lantus dosing, the proper starting dose should have been 1 unit. I think he/she is not very familiar with Lantus and was maybe selecting a dose based on the BG.

Since Cookie went so low tonight, there is a good chance she will bounce tomorrow. Don't let a high reading discourage you or make you think you are wrong to reduce the dose. It is a perfectly natural reaction to going so low.

Also interesting you say your cat was never bothered, am I pricking my cat wrong, perhaps? She certainly notices each time I prick her and she startles orwriggles to get away. I am only sticking the very outer rim of her ear. Was your cat always that unbothered from the start?

Click to expand...

are you approaching from the outer side or the inside of the ear?

There is a sweet spot where they hardly notice, if you miss that and catch a vein then with George at least it turns into a crime scene and blood all over the place. You'll find the info for that in the link Tricia provided.

I do find though that if I don't get the sample the first time he gets quite irritated with me and starts his ear flicking shenanigans. Try to be confident and firm with him, I think they also try it on at first to try and disuade us from continuing to prick there ears, once he realizes this is how it's going to be, he'll probably calm down. Hubby occasionally tested George and a petsitter too, generally he was as good as gold for me, but he nearly always gave our petsitter and hubby a hard time. I talk to him calmly when I am taking his BG, and some folk here sing to their kitty, I think if they feel we are calm then they are more likely to remain calm themselves.

One thing you might try is to get a bit or blood on your fingernail, and dip the strip into that. I doesn't matter if you have to scrape it off the wall, or whatever, as long as you can get enough to activate the strip. Hang in there. We all found testing difficult at first. In case you haven't seen it, here are some tips that might help: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/.

I'm not sure why your vet started your cat on 2 units. Based on the formula for Lantus dosing, the proper starting dose should have been 1 unit. I think he/she is not very familiar with Lantus and was maybe selecting a dose based on the BG.

Since Cookie went so low tonight, there is a good chance she will bounce tomorrow. Don't let a high reading discourage you or make you think you are wrong to reduce the dose. It is a perfectly natural reaction to going so low.

Click to expand...

This post was amazingly helpful, thank you so so much. Not sure why I didnt think about just scraping the blood onto my fingers instead of giving her time to flick it away while I brought the strip up to it, duh!! Life saver!

Thank you for the link as well to the tips and for reminding me about a possible bounce in her bs. I gave her 1u today and she read 212, so gonna keep it there and see if goes lower over the next couple of days. Thanks so much again!

There is a sweet spot where they hardly notice, if you miss that and catch a vein then with George at least it turns into a crime scene and blood all over the place. You'll find the info for that in the link Tricia provided.

I do find though that if I don't get the sample the first time he gets quite irritated with me and starts his ear flicking shenanigans. Try to be confident and firm with him, I think they also try it on at first to try and disuade us from continuing to prick there ears, once he realizes this is how it's going to be, he'll probably calm down. Hubby occasionally tested George and a petsitter too, generally he was as good as gold for me, but he nearly always gave our petsitter and hubby a hard time. I talk to him calmly when I am taking his BG, and some folk here sing to their kitty, I think if they feel we are calm then they are more likely to remain calm themselves.

Hang in there, I promise it will get easier.

Click to expand...

Lol, crime scene! Yessssss, have had a few of those so far.....lmao. I'm sticking her from the outer side of the ear, I have her in front of me and prick ear from the back.

Good advice here, thanks. I think she senses my hesitation and gives me a harder time in those moments. I kept this in mind today when testing her this evening, and she was a lot more still for me when I confident and firm and didn't let her stall it.

What size lancet are you using? It's easier to get a sample with a 26 or 28 gauge lancet. The smaller the number the bigger the Lancet.

Click to expand...

Yes! It is sooo much easier now that ive purchased some 26 gauges. Id initially bought a (rather large unfortunately) box of the auto-lancets, where you push down and the needle shoots down on its own. Do not work well at allll when testing a kitty, so Id resorted to using a clean insulin needle until I could get some lancets from the store. Everytime I went, the shelf was wiped.